Don't Offer Me Roses
by BodaciousGracious
Summary: Ino had always loved Sasuke. & just before he left, she offered all what's left of her love to him. Will he accept? SasuIno. Read, Review, Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_Kay, this is __**Bodacious Gracious **__again, but with a new story. This is an old one. I never got to finish it so yeah. This started in 6__th__ grade so it might be a little childish. I added some stuff to it, but other than that, it's been kept the same. So be nice!! Thank yous. Read, Review, Enjoy!_

**Don't Offer Me Roses.**

_You need love…_

Ino sat down on a stool behind the counter of her family's flower shop. She laid her head on her hands and sighed. It was a boring day; barely anyone came to buy flowers. Maybe two or three people came, but that was just a few. "Argh, why couldn't we have had a restaurant or something?" Ino sighed and mumbled, "It would have drawn more customers than this measly flower shop."

An hour passed and Ino was asleep. Luckily, no one had come. Suddenly, the door opened, making the bell ring. _Ding._ This woke up Ino from her comfortable sleep.

"Huh? Wha-?" she stammered, raising her head. She turned to the person that had just come in and said, "How may I help you?" Her eyes widened when she saw it was Uchiha Sasuke, Konoha's greatest heartthrob, according to his maniacal fan girls.

He approached her with an unreadable expression on his pretty boy face.

"I need a dozen roses please," he said with a flat tone. 'Roses?' Ino thought, 'I wonder what he wants with a dozen roses.'

"Right away," was her only reply as she was getting out from behind the counter. Sasuke watched her as she went in the back and searched for the roses under that mob of other flowers.

"Ugh! Man, I should've put them in the front. It's been a while since anyone bought any roses," she mumbled to herself through the rows of flowers.

"Ah ha!" she cried in satisfaction, "Here they are!" Sasuke couldn't see her now, since she was hidden behind the plants, but her voice was clearly heard, "What color?!"

Sasuke thought for a moment. The yellow rose meant hate or jealousy; of course he didn't want that. The red rose meant love, which was the meaning he wanted.

"Red," he called back to her.

"Okay, she said, "Ouch! Darn it! You stupid thorns!" Sasuke could tell that she was having some difficulty with the roses' thorns. Ino appeared from behind the wall of flowers, carrying a dozen roses with a cut hand.

"Ah…" Ino groaned, "Darn it." She walked back to the counter, observing her cut hand. She set the flowers down on the counter and took a wet cloth and wiped away the blood.

She put the bloody cloth aside and turned back to Sasuke, "What color wrapper would you like?"

"Red," he replied. Ino took a red roll of wrapping paper and cut it into a size that was needed. She wrapped it around the dozen roses and tied a ribbon at the end.

"Here you go," Ino handed it to him and took the money he held out.

"Thanks," he said, turning around and walking towards the door. He was halfway out the door when Ino suddenly blurted out, "Have a nice day!"

Sasuke turned his head ober his shoulder and saw Ino with a smile on her face. Sasuke half smirked, half smiled at her.

"Thanks."

**-XoxOxoX-**

_**A few days later…**_

Ino sped out of her family's flower shop in panic. Her legs went as fast as they could go. She was in a search for someone- Sasuke. Word had spread that he was going to leave Konoha and move to Sound with Orochimaru.

The whole village had plunged into confusion. Why? Why was he going to leave? Is it to stop a war from happening? Or is he going on his own accord? Regardless of what his reason was, Ino was going to do everything she could to stop him.

Her leg went faster and faster, at the thought of what was going to happen. 'Why?! What in the world is he leaving for?!' she repeated this over and over again in her head, trying to come up with a reasonable answer.

She ran around the whole village, searching every corner and inch. After a while of scavenging, she could find nothing. She even tried to find Sakura, but she was nowhere to be found either.

"I'm sorry, Ino," Sakura's mother had said to her when Ino knocked on the door, "Sakura isn't home right now. And I don't know where she is. Oh, I hope she's all right."

'She probably went after Sasuke,' Ino though as she ran. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling she just had to go check the park.

This was very typical of Sakura to after Sasuke. Everyone knows that she has a huge crush on him. She was a stupid girl to end a friendship over just some boy.

Ino passed the Uchiha estate along the way to the park. She stopped and stared at the house; it looked dull and dead. No wonder Sasuke was suck a dark and mysterious kid. The place looked like a graveyard.

Ino slowly walked towards the house, the gate was open, and so she went in. The windows were open, revealing dark rooms inside. The curtains blew and shutters banged against the wall as the wind pushed them.

She approached the door, which was closed, and looked at the yard. It was full of weeds and dead trees' barks were peeling bit by bit. There were no flowers to be seen.

'Not much of a gardening person is he?' Ino thought. Then something caught the corner of her eye. She turned and saw the flowers Ino had sold to Sasuke a few days ago: the red roses. It was in a pot filled with water and it was laid against the wall right next to the door.

Ino stared as she slowly approached it. 'So this is why Sasuke bought these roses,' she thought, 'To say good-bye to this place. Oh, I wish I had known that before I gave him these flowers.' She picked two of the best roses in the bunch and ran out the gate to continue her search.

Ino entered the park with slight hesitation. A knot has been forming in her stomach. "He's here, he's here," she whispered to herself as the wind blew against her, "I can feel it. I just have to follow this path." It was true; she had a gut feeling in the back of her mind, deep into her psych.

Her slow walk turned into a jog, then a run. She squeezed her hand that held the roses. Blood seeped from it, but she didn't seem to care. All she cared about was to find Sasuke and stop him.

Sure enough, after running down the path for a couple of moments, a figure of a person started to form under the shadows of the trees. Her legs went faster when she could make-out the figure. 'Sasuke!!' she screamed in her head.

"As she got closer, she could see that Sasuke had his back to her and was about to leave when he heard footsteps. He turned around and saw Ino a few feet away, panting. "Sasuke."

"Ino looked down and saw a body sprawled on the floor- Sakura.

"Sakura!" Ino gasped at the sight, "What'd you to her?!"

"Don't worry," Sasuke said flatly, looking at Ino, "She's out cold. I only knocked her out."

"And you were just going to leave her here?!" She shrieked with a disgusted look on her face. Sasuke just shrugged and looked away.

"You're here now, so you can just take her," Sasuke muttered. There was an awkward silence between them. They stood there, facing each other, Sakura lying on the floor.

After a few more moments, Ino said, "Why are you leaving?" Her voice was hoarse and shaking, tears started to form in her sky blue eyes. She couldn't believe that her first love was leaving her forever. It was just too hard to bear with.

Sasuke watched her carefully; another heart he was going to break. "That's none of your business," he said darkly.

"'None of my business' eh?" Ino said, "It's because I'm not important isn't it? It's only for the important people to know, like the Hokage." She had a mockery touch to her voice, "I'm just a member of the Yamanaka clan. A family not noble enough for you superior clans. A family of nothing."

Sasuke winced, "That's not what I meant." The girl has to exaggerate everything to make things seem worse. 'At least you _have_ a family to stay with,' he wanted to yell at her.

"Then what is it?!" Ino asked, starting to cry. Tears fell from her eyes and down her cheeks, but her voice was now steady and bold.

"I told you it's none of your business," Sasuke said more darkly than usual, "You're in no place to know." Ino didn't say anything. Another awkward silence…

After a few moments, Sasuke turned around and started to walk away. Ino stood there staring at his back. 'He just needs a little love,' Ino thought, thinking his reason was because he felt that he didn't belong here…**wrong**. (You know why.) It seemed so ridiculous, but it was the only thing her distraught mind could come up with.

Ino ran up to him and held out the two roses, "Here, you need these." Sasuke stopped and faced her. He saw the two flowers and stared at them. 'These' meaning 'Red roses' and 'Red roses' meaning 'Love'.

"I need 'love'?" he wondered out loud.

"Uh-huh," Ino smiled at him with satisfaction that he had figured out her little puzzle.

Sasuke took his hand and swatted the roses out of Ino's hand. She stared at him in horror.

"Then don't offer me roses," he said, monotone. He continued his way on.

'Then don't offer me roses,' he had said. In other words… 'Don't offer me love.'

**-XoxOxoX-**

_So what do you think? Please keep in mind that I wrote this back in 6__th__ grade so it isn't that…good. Lol This will probably end up a two-shot so yeah…Thanks for reading! __**BodaciousGracious.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Bodacious Gracious**__ is back with another update! Thanks to all who reviewed. It's been fun reading them lol. It gives me confidence and I thank you all for that. Well, this is going to be the final chapter of this two-shot so enjoy[note: this part __**is**__ new though._

_**-XoxOxoX-**_

**Don't Offer Me Roses.**

_Three Years later… _

Ino sighed and laid her head down on the counter. 'Damn! This is so boring,' she thought as she slammed her fist on her knee. 'I should be training with Shika and Chouji.' Ino's father was out on a mission and her mother was out taking care of a friend's kids because, they too, went on a mission. So Ino was all alone and was stuck taking care of the shop.

"No one ever comes to buy flowers anymore," Ino muttered in disgust, "The only reason these days is because of a damn funeral." The door opened and in came non-other than Kiba. "Hey, Ino! Did you hear?" Akamaru barked from outside, since he was way too big to get in. "Did I hear what?" Ino said, boringly.

"Sasuke," Kiba paused, "Naruto and Sakura brought him back!" It looked like he was excited. Ino huffed, "So?" She was still angry at him for swatting those beautiful flowers. From that moment back then, he was an enemy and Ino couldn't get her head around how much she hated him. "So…aren't you…happy..? Everyone is, especially his fan girls," Kiba chuckled. "Yeah, everybody but me," Ino sighed and laid back on the wall.

Akamaru barked. Kiba looked at Ino with a confused look, before saying, "Well, Ino, I have to go, Tsunade-sama wants me. So see you later." "Yeah, whatever, bye," she said, examining her nails. Kiba ran out the door and shut it right behind him.

"Sasuke's back, eh?" Ino said to herself, her voice and face softened. "Hm…I wonder…"

**-XoxOxoX-**

Sasuke sat on one of the park benches. The wind was mild, but even so, it felt like a storm to him. After being dragged back here to Konoha, he was immediately interrogated. He was put through vigorous tests, and was forced to sign a 'vow' to never make contact or be involved in anything involving Sound. He was like a baby in a crib.

A trace justu was set on his mark. So if it broke the seal again, it would immediately alarm ANBU personnel. This was convenient because the seal will only break if Sasuke was in intense combat. Tsunade had it all figured put this time.

Sasuke sat there in silence, not thinking or looking at anything in particular. Just sitting there, that was all he was doing. He folded his arms and thought about everything that had happened to him. He's seen so much, experienced the horrors his 'friends' would never understand. All of that was because of Orochimaru. He regretted joining him, and that was the main thing that made everyone forgive him.

Maybe he should've accepted those roses after all.

That's when he thought of Ino. He smirked the thought of her pathetic attempt. 'Roses,' he thought, 'Love'. That was, after all, what she was trying to give him. It was a mistake for him to deny. Or, so he thought. Sasuke stared at the trees, eyes riveted as he said what something he genuinely smiled to, "…I wonder if the offer hasn't expired yet?"

He heard someone coming. The footsteps weren't rushing, they were…content, patient. A figure of a girl emerged from the shadows of the trees. Ino. She was prettier than the memory he had of her. Her hair was as gold as ever, and her eyes. Oh, her eyes. Blue as the never-ending sky. She was still wearing purple, not a surprise.

"Hey," she said, a little smile creeping over her face, "Sasuke."

He turned his head away from her and stared straight ahead, "Hey." He was embarrassed of seeing her. So he decided to play it cool.

"Remember this place?" Ino asked her hands behind her back. She looked around the trees and bushes, then right back to Sasuke, who remained motionless.

"This was the place where you rudely smacked those roses out of my hand," she chuckled bitterly. Sasuke looked sideways at her. "Yeah, so? To think that you'd hate me for that," he said, with the same bitterness in his voice. She laughed. She actually _laughed._

"No," she said as her laugh was reduced to giggling, "I don't _hate_ you for that. More like _despise, loathe, _or_ detest._" Sasuke flinched. Those words pierced through him like a knife.

"Is that the whole reason why you came here?" he said, anger boiling, "To tell me that?" He was staring at her now, glaring like a disturbed dog. Ino kept her innocent face, ignoring his glare. She only smiled at him.

"No," she said, chuckling and shaking her head. She approached and stood in front of him.

"Now let's try this again," she said so sweetly that Sasuke felt like he was going to melt.

"You need these," she said, holding out two roses.

Sasuke didn't know what to say. He felt his blood rush through his head. But he got her drift.

"I need 'love'?" he said in a low voice, repeating what he had said three years ago on the very spot.

"Uh-huh," Ino smiled, remembering too.

Sasuke stood up, gently took the roses and hesitantly hugged her.

She hugged back, he smiled.

"Thank you."

**-XoxOxoX-**

_So…what did you guys think? Personally, I think I did okay. Not the best, but you know, the best __**I **__can do. Anyway…Review? && Thank You all for reading! __**Bodacious Gracious.**_


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